We are a $3.6 billion private, national foundation that works to expand opportunities in America’s cities through grantmaking and social investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services and community development in Detroit.

Talking About Cities podcast

Kresge's Carol Coletta unearths innovative ideas for making cities successful and interviews the people behind them

Host Carol Coletta

Carol Coletta is a senior fellow with The Kresge Foundation’s American Cities Practice. For nine years before joining Kresge, she was host and producer of the nationally syndicated weekly public radio show "Smart City," where she interviewed more than 900 international leaders in business, the arts and cities.

#28 – The Future of Washington D.C. Public Libraries

Richard Reyes-Gavilan, executive director of District of Columbia Public Library, discusses libraries' evolution from mainly repositories of information to “engines of human capital,” how library patrons increasingly are becoming "creators" rather than simply "consumers," and how the D.C. system is building new libraries for a booming population and crafting some unusual public-private partnerships along the way. Listen

#27 – Media and Libraries

Shannon Mattern, an associate professor at the New School in New York City, discusses the current media environment and its effect on public trust, the "smart city" movement and the importance of libraries and librarians to smart cities and people's lives. Listen

#26 – Diversity: The Magic of a Market

Adele Yellin, director of Los Angeles' 100-year-old Grand Central Market, talks about one of the city's few true civic spaces and how it draws together people and provides them with a wide range of food and experiences. Listen

#25 – Reimagining Akron's Civic Commons

Suzie Graham, president of the Downtown Akron Partnership, Nick Moskos, chief of planning for Summit Metro Parks, and Dan Rice, president and CEO of the Ohio and Erie Canalway Coalition discuss Akron's work to take full advantage of the historic canalway and the importance of listening to local residents, building trust and the challenges of working in broad coalitions. Listen

#24 – Reimagining Detroit's Civic Commons

Detroit Planning Director Maurice Cox, Liv-6 Alliance Co-director Michael Forsyth and landscape architect Alexa Bush discuss efforts to redevelop neighborhoods in northwest Detroit with an emphasis on inclusive growth and investing in civic infrastructure to direct redevelopment. Detroit is one of five cities participating in the Reimagining the Civic Commons initiative, co-funded by Kresge. Listen

#23 – Reimagining Chicago's Civic Commons

Theaster Gates, a social practice installation artist, and David Reifman, head of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, discuss the city's approach to Reimagining the Civic Commons, a three-year five-city effort to reinvest in civic assets to create inclusive, attractive communities. Listen

#22 – Reimagining Philadelphia's Civic Commons

Kathryn Ott Lovell, Philadelphia’s commissioner of parks and recreation, and Jennifer Mahar, senior director of civic initiatives for the Fairmont Park Conservancy, discuss the aspirations and challenges of using public-private partnerships to revitalize public places as assets that can help form the foundation of a vibrant, equitable civic life. Philadelphia is one of five cities participating in the Reimagining the Civic Commons initiative, co-funded by Kresge. Listen

#21 – Women’s Health and Family Planning

Mark Edwards, co-founder of Upstream USA, talks about how the United States' high rate of unplanned pregnancies is connected to poverty, and how his organization is working to identify and remove obstacles that keep low-income women from getting the full range of effective contraception. Listen

#20 – Human Services

Michael Shaw, program officer with The Kresge Foundation's Human Services Program, discusses new ways of thinking and working to make the $1.1 trillion human services sector more people-oriented and flexible in its approaches to helping those in need. Listen

#19 – Citizen Jane: Battle For The City

Filmmakers Matt Trynauer and Robert Hammond discuss their new documentary about Jane Jacobs, the author and activist whose 1961 book, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” is still considered important for its insights into how sidewalks, parks, retail design and self-organization all contribute to livable places. Listen

#18 – Civil Rights: Lessons from Past Apply to the Future

Terri Freeman, president of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, discusses the museum's efforts to documents the Civil Rights Movement, the upcoming 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, and lessons from the struggles of the past that are relevant today. Listen

#17 – ‘Right-Sizing’ A City

Doug McGowen, chief operating officer for the City of Memphis, recounts how the city grew through annexation in the past, its need to 'right-size' based on population density, and its desire to attract residents and increase density in the city core. Listen

#16 – Helping Cities Absorb Capital

During her tenure as a Kresge Foundation Senior Fellow, Robin Hacke discusses the market principles and social goals that underpin the foundation’s Capital Absorption Practice, offers examples of successful social investing around the U.S., and examines how cities can lay the groundwork for deploying investment capital. Listen »

#15 – The Neighborhood Playbook

Joe Nickol senior associate of MKSK in Columbus, Ohio, and Kevin Wright, executive director Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation in Cincinnati, talk about redeveloping unused public spaces. Their “neighborhood playbook,” a field guide to help community members and developers activate public space, lays out steps for figuring out “what makes sense” in a given community while emphasizing local needs and desires. Listen »

#14 – The Commons: A Verb, Not Just a Noun

Jay Walljasper, author of “All That We Share,” “America’s Walking Renaissance” and other books, discusses the value civic assets such as parks, libraries and walkable streets, and how they’re not just “nouns” – places and things – but also “verbs” – in that the ways we use them are as important as the assets themselves. Jay and Carol also talk about what it takes to make a city truly walkable. Listen »

#13 – Philadelphia’s vision to reimagine, rebuild civic assets

Mike DiBerardinis, managing director for the city of Philadelphia, discusses details of the plan to use the recently passed tax on sugary drinks to support the city’s largest ever bond issue for extensive rebuilding of parks, libraries and recreation centers. Not only will the plan reimagine and rebuild important civic assets, it will include a jobs program and support for professional services, particularly women- and minority-owned firms. Listen »

#12 – Making Engagement Really Work

Dan Pitera, director of Detroit Collaborative Design Center, recounts how the Detroit Future City process was retooled to truly engage with residents across the city and collect their input after the effort got off to a rocky start. Bringing in a wide range of groups and using a wide range of tactics were essential to the effort. Listen »

#11 – Civic Assets: Reveal, Connect and Engage

Gia Biagi, senior director for urbanism and civic impact at Studio Gang in Chicago, discusses how promoting, connecting and using a set of civic assets – not just parks and libraries, but streets and even police stations – can produce new value for residents of urban neighborhoods. Listen »

#10 – Detroit: So many challenges, so much opportunity

Jed Howbert, executive director of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s Jobs and Economy team, discusses the city's approach to revitalization, including the challenges of prioritizing projects to provide both short- and long-term benefits, and the need to show real progress to "understandably skeptical" residents who've heard unfulfilled promises in the past. Listen »

#9 – Turning a Bridge into a Park

Scott Kratz, with the nonprofit organization Building Bridges Across the River, discusses an ambitious project underway in Washington, D.C. to transform an old freeway bridge across the Anacostia River into a park connecting two very different neighborhoods and intended to improve public health, re-engage local residents with the river and bring together people from different backgrounds and demographics. Listen »

#8 – The Future of Neighborhood Parks

Beth White, president and CEO of the Houston Parks Board, discusses the rediscovery of parks as vital civic assets, innovative uses of park land, and the challenges of using public-private partnerships to fund new parks and connect local residents with them. Listen »

#7 – Taxing Sugary Drinks for Education and Parks

Kathryn Ott Lovell, Philadelphia’s Parks and Recreation Commissioner, talks about Philadelphia's tax on sugary drinks – the first adopted by a large U.S. city – which was sold not on the health benefits to the community, but on the support the tax would provide for parks and libraries and early childhood education. Listen »

#6 – Building Coalitions for Affordable Housing

Alan Durning, founder of Sightline Institute, a think tank focused on sustainability solutions that benefit all communities, discusses the challenges to building more affordable housing in Seattle, Wash. A mayoral commission has proposed allowing more housing construction with a guarantee that a portion will be reserved for affordable units. Listen »

#5 – Opportunity and Challenge in Vacant Storefronts

Michael Forsyth, business development manager at the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, recounts development of the Revolve Detroit and program and lessons from that experiment in small-business development. Listen »

#4 – Can Public Pools Bridge Economic Divides?

Ben Bryant, an urban planner who developed Philadelphia's Pop Up Pool program, discusses the use of civic assets as meeting grounds for people across the economic spectrum. Listen »

#3 – The Challenge of Population Loss

Maurice Cox, director of planning for city of Detroit, talks about the challenges of stabilizing neighborhoods and dealing with large swaths of vacant land caused by years of population decline. Listen »

#2 – Urban Consulate: Sharing and Spreading Ideas

Claire Nelson discusses the Urban Consulate, "a bit of a clubhouse," where "people can have conversations” and share ideas to improve life in their cities. Having founded two locations, in Detroit and Philadelphia, Nelson is launching one in New Orleans. Listen »

#1 – Economic Integration: Why is it Important?

Joe Cortright, economist and analyst at CityObservatory.org, discusses how cities benefit from neighborhoods with a mixture of income levels, and how failures in federal policies are forcing cities to tackle problems for which they are unequipped. Listen »